British cabinet minister David Blunkett resigned in scandal yesterday for the second time in less than a year, embarrassing Prime Minister Tony Blair just months after Blair brought his ally back into government. ?David Blunkett said he believed his position to be untenable,? Blair?s spokesman told reporters.

Blunkett had been under fire for days for accepting jobs while briefly out of office, without going through a required procedure for former ministers taking private sector work. He quit his previous government post in a sex and abuse-of-office scandal last year after an inquiry found his office had speeded up a visa for his lover?s nanny.

Blair brought him back just six months later, and a second resignation is widely regarded as deeply embarrassing for the prime minister.